All Chrysler Pacifica Hybrids Recalled In US And Canada – Details

The Chrsyler Pacifca Hybrid minivan officially arrived on Earth Day 2017 (April 22nd, 2017)…and now will be revisiting the dealerships that sold them to repair diodes that lead to loss of propulsion

Talk to any customer who ordered a 33 mile, extended range Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid late last year, and they will tell you it hasn’t been the smoothest road to get their plug-in minivans.

2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid’s 6.6 kW charging ability is quite fast compared to other PHEV offerings in the US

Despite production starting in Windsor, Ontario in late November, there had been a few delays and quality control holds since, ones that caused the first real deliveries delayed until late April.

Perhaps there should have been one more, as Fiat US has voluntarily recalled 1,677 Pacifica Hybrids registered through June 9th, 2017 – 1,368 in the US, and 309 in Canada.

(sidenote: at least we know the exact sales level for the plug-in minivan to date through mid-June)

The company notes feedback from a “small number” of customers leading to the discovery that certain diodes my stop functioning – which causes propulsion loss (which is kind of a problem). We have heard incidental reports of that failure happening while the vehicle was in operation.

Thankfully, FCA says it is not aware of any related injuries or accidents as it relates to this issue. Affected owners of 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans will be notified of the issue and to schedule service. For customers concerned today, Chrysler is reportedly offering loaners.

An employee at the Windsor Assembly plant builds a super module for the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid

Concerned owners can also call Fiat’s Customer Care Center at 800-853-1403 for further details. On the ground reports point to a current halt in new Pacifica Hybrid sales at the moment while the logistics of this recall/repair is worked out. Given the season, that is likely “it” for the 2017 model year.

Totally agree on the application. It makes sense and that’s a lot of weight in motion that can be recovered via regen. I’m surprised with the limited supply Chrysler released the product nationally vs keeping it in the CARB states for maximum credit and more of a dealer controlled network for repairs.

A post on TMC says that all the cars have to go back to the Windsor factory for the fix and customers will be provided a loaner for the duration. I really don’t understand what would warrant that procedure over spending the time and effort to produce the documentation, parts, and materials for the dealers to perform the recall.

Clearly they never should have released the cars from the extended quality hold that ended in April.

I am not 100% sure this is the case for these Pacifica Hybrids current since they put out this official release.As we understood it over the past few weeks – recent/current orders were put on hold, and the in transit/non registered cars were turned back around to get the fix.

Now that we have an official recall, the wording seems to intimate that the Pacifica plug-ins will be returned to the dealers themselves for service once Chrysler has the part/service bulletin out, and FCA will send out those notes and schedule service times.

Will see if we can get some more clarity on that once over the next couple days…otherwise if there intention was to ship them back to the point of origin, why wouldn’t they just ask all the owners to return the minivans to dealers straight away?

With that said, it’s a little confusing, we have been following the Pacifica Hybrid since it started production in late November 2016, and there has been a lot of different things happening along the way.

Update: As we understand it now (the info was a bit hazy at first), the repairs will indeed take place at the dealership, and should only be a day-stay, apparently not a complicated process.

The kicker is that the parts are reportedly not yet in stock for the dealer to order/receive…hence the report of loaners being available for those who would rather not drive their minivans in the meantime.

“All Pacifica Hybrids out in the wild will need to have their cars also returned to Windsor for the same fix although dealers (at least mine) have not been instructed to contact those clients yet….My car is now back in Windsor (arrived this morning) and will be shipped direct via truck to my dealer on June 16th, there’s even a truck load time in the system! That means shipping for delivery is being expedited as that is not the usual routing for any new vehicles.”

Yupe, I hear you. I saw that article as well…which was put together before the recall was official (based on this thread, and the early report from a specific dealer on June 7th). The subsequent Gas2 seems to be a hybrid of the original (pre-recall) from Clean Technica, but with recall news updated in…which I think is why it reads a bit confusing.

That interm turnaround/fix at Windsor was apparently the normal operation for the repairs ahead of any units physically being delivered. (Chrysler has an odd set of production/delivery status codes…which seem to flip around a lot, but when something says ‘in transit to…’ it can still really mean ‘sitting out in the holding pen waiting to go’ in Windsor, not out back of a California dealer waiting on a re-pick up and a 2,300 mile journey)

Since the recall was made official, and further to that since yesterday, we have had reports of people calling FCA and being told that the repair will indeed happen at the dealership, but the parts are not yet available, so they are not scheduling times yet, but that owners can still drive their Pacifica Hybrids in the meantime (although many aren’t too comfortable with that, and are escalating to get rental car subsidies).

As seemingly the norm, Chrysler isn’t the best at communicating these sorts of things clearly to its customers, so there seems to be a lot of sleuthing necessary to try and figure out what is truly happening.

When “diodes” failed in our VW TDI (flashing PRNDS, & no drive), it was done at the dealer. NHTSA recall. They were inside the “megatronic” DSG transmission. Anyway, this sounds like some form of transmission access?

It was clarified to me that the car that was sent back to the factory was not a customer delivered car, but a car that was in transit from the factory to the dealer. The use of “my car” was misleading because it was only promised to that customer by the dealer and the customer never had posession. This makes the whole situation much more reasonable.

If the vans have to be shipped back to the factory for a fix they could risk keeping over 30 days. In Florida if they have a car over 30 days it’s considered a lemon and they have to buy it back from the customer. I am not sure they want 1300 lemons.

People shouldn’t have to commit to it for the long haul. If the entire Federal credit is capitalized into a lease, the payments can come down to below $300/month. That should be great for getting them to move.

In our family (4 kids), the minivan is no longer the main vehicle since we got a LEAF to replace the commuter car. If we replaced the minivan with a Pacifica hybrid, it would NOT get a lot more mileage since I would still prefer to drive the LEAF as much as possible (cheaper and more fun to drive)

If they are sending them back to the factory and giving out the loaners, you’d think it would be about a wash to just give the owners new vehicles then re-sell the fixed vehicles as used after fixing them.

Chrysler is known for creating bad-ass hemi-powered muscle cars but they can’t make a decent green vehicle. It doesn’t take much to bribe crooked auto execs and big oil has deep pockets. Who Killed the Electric Car? ALL of the established automakers, not just GM.

When switching inductive loads (like a motor winding) you have to have a diode to dissipate the voltage spike that occurs when you switch off the load. If you lose those you’ll start to blow driver transistors in short order and soon after you’ll be stranded.

Was it confirmed that it’s flyback? If so, was it for motor or inverter (motor controller?)

I often wondered if they use simple diodes or changed to using FET. Because FET would be more efficient and less heat, it would be more reliable. OTOH, control failure possibility could make it less reliable. Efficient power supply tend to use FET for freewheeling instead of diode.

Would the motor controller have separate flyback diodes? Usually the motor has them, the motor controller probably doesn’t need them?

The AC charger in the car would have them also since it is a switch mode power supply.

I have heard of using FETs for clamping in controllers for efficiency, but I would imagine if you did that you’d also put in diodes in case you don’t sequence the FETs properly. I mean, if you don’t sequence the FETs properly and you have no catch diodes either then you’re going to damage something pretty quickly. So you might as well put in a catch diode to prevent this or at the very least be the cheap thing that gets damaged.

When Chrysler said they were releasing an electric minivan with 33 miles of range I kinda hoped that was referring to the electric only range not the total lifetime range of the car before it needed replacing.

Dose this remind anyone of the half shaft problems Fiat had with the 500?

They should have never made a hybrid Pacifica in the first place. In fact they should have redesigned the Caravan alongside the Pacifica as with past years. Oh, but the CEO doesn’t care about the history of Chrysler or the van that invented the minivan. The Caravan will live on whether they discontinue it or keep making it. It’s really a shame that Sergio cares more about the Pacifica or otter vehicles such as Fiat then tue Dodge Caravan.

So Chrysler issues a recall. Everyone wants to burn the witches at the stake. Like no other Automobile manufacturer has had any recalls at all. If anyone should be burned at the stake it should be all the other manufacturers who have yet to mass produce a 6-7 passenger van PHEV.

It’s great that Tesla is being so proactive by issuing this *voluntary* recall. And offering free loaners to people if they merely aren’t comfortable driving their vehicles. I mean, would a traditional automaker do that? Haha, no way.

Oh, wait. This is Chrysler. I mean it’s an inexcusable problem and a symptom of their lack of experience with electrified powertrains. Can’t go bankrupt again soon enough, I say.

Essentally, this faulty component could be something not even of their (FCA’s) design fault tree, but a fault of a supplier or it’s own Mfg, but once it is used by FCA, their name is the final name heard!

Too bad we will never discover the name of the weak or faulty ‘diode!’

One bad diode out of 30,000 parts and a major recall. Exhibit #43 on why the Bolt EV rollout was SSLLOOWW, why the Models S & X rollout was SSLLOOWW, why the Prius Prime rollout was SSLLOWW, and why Model 3 roll-out will be SSSLLOOOWWW.

That explains why I got a note from a local dealer that they were told they were not getting anymore 2017 Pacifica Hybrids, and Chrysler would be waiting to send out more in 2018.

It’s a good thing I already had a minivan rental planned with Avis for the road trip to a major national park that we are leaving on soon. I had been hoping to get a Pacifica Hybrid in time for the trip. Now maybe I’m glad it didn’t work out.

Own it. love it. Chose it in favor of Model X (size and utility — no roof rack) and the drive is absolutely awesome, no comparison to any gas minivan’s. FCA did so many things right there. This recall is actually a smaller part of observed powertrain failures, but most of the rest is chalked up to QC failures it seems.

So, some pain in the beginning, but Volt is said to have gone thru a similar stage at the start. And I can’t help feeling that this is definitely a step up for FCA, given the history. Japanese brands to do not want to step up, oh well, so go domestics!

I drive new Pacificas every day (shipping routes) ahd I much prefer the hybrid version. It is remarkably quiet and when the juice runs out, you don’t even realize that the engine has come on. The electric motors really deliver low end grunt and the regenerative braking transition is smooth. On top of the technology is a beautiful interior and unmatched utility with all that cargo room.

Our biggest issue is starting to become comfort and room. We have a 2012 Plug-in Prius, which has a great amount of cargo room, plus seating for 5 (barely). It gets us out of town on the weekends, plus around town with terrific mileage. I’m getting 99mpg average over the last 10k miles. However, it is uncomfortable for longer trips. After an hour, my wife is in significant pain in the passenger seat. Also, as a family of 4 with a dog, it is really pushing the limits of our packing and flexibility.

We have been shopping for a new BEV or PHEV vehicle, but have been striking out in a big way, due to seat comfort or cargo room. We even tried a Tesla S, but my wife practically jumped out of the seat, due to discomfort. We adjusted and adjusted, but it looks like a no-go for Tesla. Although I have a deposit on the Model 3, I think I’m going to cancel it, due to seat comfort (the Tesla sales person thought the seats would likely be the same, since Tesla moved seat manufacturing in-house).

We tried out a top end Pacifica (not the PHEV/Hybrid, since it is not available for testing), and found the seats to be pretty darn good! We also tested out an Outlander (still hoping they bring the PHEV here), and the seats were not as adjustable for the passenger.

So, although I have major qualms about FCA build and testing quality, I think we will be ordering up a 2018 Pacifica Hybrid/PHEV, (don’t get me started about nomenclature).

I still can’t believe that the other manufacturers have let a naysayer company like FCA, pioneer the field of larger PHEV or BEV vehicles. Shame on Toyota, Nissan, GM,… etc.

Well, I let the car figure it… I have over 9k on one of the trip odometers, and it also displays the MPG for that distance. Right now, it is at 100mpg. The car was rated at 95MPGe when purchased. As with ANY plug-in hybrid, your ‘gas’ mileage is entirely dependant on how you use the electric range, whatever it is. Mine allows me to go to work, plug in, and return home, where I also plug in. If I don’t go much further, my ICE never turns on. When I go on weekend trips, after the electric range runs out, it becomes a regular Prius hybrid, like any other.

JAY, if you’re there…for the past 3 weeks +/-, every time I open this website, the page jumps continuously for the first minute. I don’t have this issue on any other website I visit. Maybe something happened during the last Microsoft update that affected the site in a negative way?

That’s odd, there is probably an ad serve that is conflicting with our site UI that has geo-targeted you.

Not 100% sure on the fix, but I can say that a full site re-design (as well as behind the scenes CMS) should launch in just a couple weeks, so that issue (and the occasional “spinning wheel”) will go away then for sure. Sorry you are facing a problem now.